1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pipette tip supplying apparatus, a sample analyzer, and a pipette tip supplying method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a pipette tip has been used in dispensing of a sample such as blood and urine, and a pipette tip supplying apparatus which automatically supplies the pipette tip to a position at which the pipette tip is mounted on a sample analyzer has been known.
For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/108330 discloses an automatic dispensing tip supplying apparatus which includes a storage box into which a plurality of pipette tips are supplied by a user, a feeding mechanism which lifts pipette tips, collected at a bottom of the storage box, one by one, and a conveyor which transports a pipette tip that is carried out to the outside of the storage box by the feeding mechanism.
In some cases, in the storage box, there is a pipette tip assembly in which one pipette tip and another pipette tip are piled up with a distal end of the one pipette tip inserted into the another pipette tip. The feeding mechanism has a lifting plate which is driven in the vertical direction and on which only one pipette tip can be laid. The U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/108330 has a description that, among pipette tips lifted by the lifting plate of the feeding mechanism, the pipette tip assembly drops again to the bottom of the storage box when the lifting plate is moved downward.
However, even in the dispensing tip supplying apparatus disclosed in the U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/108330, it is difficult to completely prevent the pipette tip assembly from being carried out to a side of the pipette tip mounting position by the lifting plate.